The Professional
by Another kind of hero
Summary: One event of his past changed the entire future. Now, with fate of the world resting in his hands more now than ever, in order to protect those he loves, Naruto must grow to become something he's never been before.


Disclaimer: I'm not affiliated with Naruto. "As if it's not obvious."

This chapter is stupidly long... but should explain some things that are going on in the story...

Prologue: The chicken and the egg

* * *

Our story begins on a Tuesday morning, believe it or not. 6:59 to be precise, when most of Konoha was still either asleep and near ready to start their day, or while others who'd set there clocks earlier had already set up shop, and were busy about there everyday lives as usual. The village hidden in the leaves, being the peaceful epicenter that it was during this time however, enjoyed a natural feel of tranquility alongside the hustle and bustle of the everyday morning life that it went through. The trees still shimmered somewhat in the glow of the sun that was was brought out by the small drops of dew which clung to the green leaves upon them. The warm winds brought about by a temperate climate allowed for the dew-graced leaves to slowly and serenely dance in the midst of them. The local fauna, squirrels which scampered up and about the village buildings and trees, seemed to move just as the rest of the population did, unconcerned with any worldly problems, living it's life out happily and mildly, and even stopping every-so-often to take a second and literally bask in the gentle rays of sunlight that were slowly beginning to wash over the land from the tree tops and the like.

It is at this point in time, minus a few exceptions, that pretty much each and every child of Konohagakure lay sound asleep in bed trying to soak in that last minute of rest that came before they, too would start there day. Ino was one of those children, who lay quietly in bed, her blond hair pretty much the only thing sticking out from under her covers, her head instinctively turned away from the sun. She had determined the day before that today, being the student's day off from school, that she'd make the best out of it, no matter what. Oh, if only her blissful, sleeping mind would have had any idea how hard that would be. 30 more seconds, she had before her clock would go off and she'd be awoken... 10 seconds, 5, 4, 3-

"NARUTO, bet back here!"

The poor girl, so utterly taken by surprise at the sudden loud tone, literally jumped out of her bed, shrieking as if some odd force had struck her, and after wards landed with a stumble and a most unladylike fall on her behind, out of the bed. Heartbeat asunder, Ino looked drastically from left to right, trying her best to seek out the cause of all of the commotion, when just as suddenly, a loud ringing from behind her caused her heart to skip yet another beat, and forcing her instincts to haphazardly twist around in a complete 180, seeking out this second noise. However, this she had found to only be her own alarm clock...which was supposed to awaken a calm, refreshed Ino.

And currently, the girl sat motionless and dumbfounded on the wooden floor of her room, she could easily state, without any doubt in her mind, that she was definitely not calm. In fact, she was quiet frustrated. That was 3 seconds of her life gone down the drain. 3 seconds that could have been spent sleeping.

So, in a pissed-off-Ino-like manner, the girl slowly stood from her stupefied position and went to her window to take a peak outside and see exactly who it was, or even what it was, that had so suddenly awoken her 3 painstaking seconds ahead of schedule. Not out of curiosity, of course. You see, being Ino, and holding the reputation as one of the most cutest girls in your school, it was required that the young blond maintained a specific, uninterrupted cycle of daily events to keep her looking the best of the best... which this unknown assailant just ruined. So you see, it wasn't curiosity that caused Ino to look out her window. That is, unless you call singling out the next person to be on your hit list being curious. _'Where is he...?' _Ino thought to herself as she looked, watching out for several more minutes before giving up on it for now.

A smart move, considering what happened next.

Had Ino not moved her head coincidentally as she did, things might have gone much worse. Had Ino the resiliently honed senses that she would acquire later on in her life as a trained ninja. Sadly, she did not have the fore mentioned skills, and because of which it was only by luck that she was to pull her head back inside her window, when seconds later a foot from out of the proverbial blue landed clumsily and loudly onto the girl's window seal, exactly where she had her head moments ago. Needless to say, in the immediate moment that it happened, the resulting sound of a crash caused Ino to immediately squeak in utter surprise, and jerk violently away from her window, causing her to yet again trip back off of her balance, and fall roughly To the ground with another rather audible thump. Once again, her heart rate rose dramatically, and once again she immediately looked to locate the source of her scare...

Only to see a blur of unsightly orange jump yet again, this time from her window seal to the ground, and rushing away.

_'Naruto.'_ A foul mood suddenly changed to a worse one. In the girl's mind, some part of her all but exploded, while another part of her wanted to slap herself for not expecting it either way. Who else, at 7:00 in the morning, had the nerve to be up and already wreaking havoc in the village? More to the point, who was practically one of the _only_ children that had the nerve to cause havoc in a city of _ninjas_? As her heart rate slowed again, a rather prudent scowl made it's way onto Ino's face, the first of many to come. The morning had only been a minute and 30 seconds in at the most, and the poor girl already hated the day with a passion. It was at this moment that Ino, with a face of sheer annoyance, decided that no good could come of this day.

"...And I'm going kill that Uzumaki Naruto." She muttered under her breath in an equally venomous tone.

* * *

Surprisingly enough, for Ino, the rest of her morning went swimmingly. After her little 'incident', she was able to go on to have a nice shower, lotion up, comb and condition her hair many times over, and proceed to eat breakfast with her family... which served to be yet another string off of confusion that offered Ino no answers at the end. But other than the 'grown-up' small talk that occurred, there wasn't really too much of anything eventful. Just as well, Ino had thought, as that was how a morning should have been. Fresh, calm, cool... no disturbances... no orange -clad kid jumping from window seal to window seal...

_Naruto._

Ino could hardly contemplate how anyone at all, in the world or the next, could be so... annoying. It was truly the perfect word for his pranks, his behavior, his very attitude that even a 7-year old Ino could call childish. It was too much to bring to mind. She couldn't even stand to be near the boy. He just... stood out too much. He was the kind of in-your-face individual that even a well trained ninja couldn't deal with. He was... in truth, he was farsightedness in human form. At least, that was what her father had called him.

"Farsightedness? What's that?" A curious Ino asked as she and her parents walked to the ninja academy. Today was the registration day this year, and rather than wait around for it, Inoichi decided that it would be best that they went and registered early in the morning.

"It's an eye condition, dear." Amaya Yamanaka, Ino's mother spoke up, addressing the question. "It's medically referred to as Hyperopia, but they both mean the same thing. It's... well, how should I put it..." It took her only a couple of moments to put the definition in a '7-year-old' format. "Well, it's when someone can't see close objects very well, and sometimes can't see far objects, either." Amaya explained, hoping her child understood well enough.

The definition, however, didn't confuse her. "Well, yeah, but how is that Naruto?" Ino asked blatantly, her mother's words having not shed much light on what Inoichi had said. Luckily, the quietly watching father decided to step in now.

"When you cannot see something, sometimes you have to strain your eyes to find the beauty in it. But to strain yourself, you put unnecessary unease upon yourself. Just as well, if the object in mind is a rather outstanding piece, then it would already hurt one's vision further. It becomes more a burden than a desire to see the beauty in something some bold... and because of which, most normally tend to cast such an object aside. And of course, there are always those who will look at true art... and give it a demonic connotation from past experiences..." His words, so oddly serene, sounded so much more like a testament of some sort than an explanation that Ino had thought that the subject had, at some point, actually changed. Amaya, scared suddenly that the conversation was about to turn down a direction it could not, was ready to intervene.

"...Are we still talking about Naruto...?" Ino spoke after a moment of silence, actually nervous about speaking again. Inoichi, who suddenly realized how grave the statement much have sounded, stopped and actually laughed off the fore coming moment of awkwardness, running a hand through his tanned blond hair. "Ha, well, of course! I mean, ah..." Amaya let out a quiet sigh of relief, her tension fading. "Well, in any rate, Naruto is just a misunderstood kid trying to get attention, the way I see it. Most likely, if he got that, then I would be willing to bet that he'd be less... annoying, as you called it." He finished with a smile. Ino thought he was going senile.

"Attention? You think he acts like a idiot for attention?" The statement seemed like a double standard to Ino, at least. After all, if someone acted like Naruto did towards her, she'd ignore them completely. Ino personally thought that if he wanted to get attention, he should actually DO something with himself, not goof off. "That's silly, dad! I mean, his parents must not care very much if they let him act like that... they don't bring him up right."

Inoichi, however, simply shrugged his daughter's accusing tone off. "I suppose parents could have a little to do with his...behavior, and I suppose that an active parenting is key in raising a child... still, not everyone has a mom and dad like you do, Ino." There was a hint of sincerity in his voice, however Ino most likely didn't hear it. No, she was too caught up in her thoughts of finally getting somewhere in the mystery of understanding Uzumaki Naruto.

"Wha...?" Ino didn't truly understand her father. He was, no matter what the case, sympathizing with the worst troublemaker in konoha. And she was utterly confused as to what he was implying to, so trying to understand his words was like putting jelly on two sides of a piece of bread. She shrugged and put it to the back of her mind for now, deciding that if there was anyone she could bring it back up with, it was--

"Yo, Ino!"

Ino stopped point blank in the middle of the street and turned to find the familiar voice. Sort of a pudgy -sounding tone, like a voice belonging to a bigger person... "Choji?" Ino blinked. Yes, Choji, her stubby friend was standing not to far off to her left, tucked nicely under the shade of a canopy. His near-completely round shape and chubby cheeks were always both a revolt and a humorous subject towards the girl. The little mini-swirl clan markings and his stubby nature did nothing better for him. Honestly, in Ino's opinion, she sometimes pitied the boy. he was short, unusually big for his age, and was constantly eating. Her father once explained to her that seeing as their clan specialized in body-form changing techniques, but Ino didn't how it could make much of a difference. After all, if it meant giving up your figure and social life just so you can grow up to be stronger, was it really worth it? When Ino would ever reach conclusions like these, she would indecisively put the subject aside, figuring that Choji knew what he wanted to do with his life one way or another.

accompanying him on the shaded bench, Ino saw Shikamaru as well, yet another friend of hers since earlier years. He, unlike her chubbier friend, was holding his head in his hands, obviously bummed out. Why, Ino didn't know. She never knew, and he would always act like this around. She never understood him... and because of which, she one day decided that if he wanted to act like a lump in the dirt, she'd respond to it accordingly. Truthfully, she couldn't stand seeing him in that... 'blah'-ish state.However cheerful she was on any daily basis, the 'blah' of Shikamaru would drain the energy out of her. it was precisely why she was the way she was, the determinate, the stubborn, the in-your-face individual that put such a bold out look on life... because of annoying people like that Shikamaru.

Yes, even Ino had people who she'd rather not be seen with...

"Hey!" Choji called with his free hand once more, seeing as the other held a large bag of beef flavored potato chips. Ino repressed a sigh. Somethings never changed. "My dad's already inside, signing me up for this year. Shikamaru's parents got here even earlier; they were finishing up by the time my mom and dad got here!" Ino blinked. Shikamaru's parents were early birds? That was news to her; she'd never seen them in the early morning, so she'd assumed that like Shikamaru, they were just as lazy. _You learn something everyday, I guess._ She thought to herself. She felt a hand on her shoulder, and moved along with her parents, finally making their way into the school. "You guys wait up for me afterwards, 'kay? I'll be right back!" She called back to Choji and Shikamaru, the former nodding and the latter sighing in response. _So that means that Shikamaru's just a lazy bum! I'm so not gonna let this drop._ Ino chuckled a little to herself as she walked up to keep pace with her parents.

* * *

"Whaddaya mean 'I can't register myself!?'" Why was the line so long for registrations, Ino had once wondered. Surely, all you really had to do was walk in, pay tuition for the next year, and sign papers, right? There were even two registration booths! She could do something like that in a heartbeat, so why did it take others so long? Standing just far enough inside of the lobby of the konohagakure ninja academy, Ino finally got her answer. The reason was the fact that one of the booths was, in fact pre-occupied.

"Stop dicking around and let me sign up, damn it!"

Permanently.

The girl's face faulted at the sight. The booths were basically two tables, separated by a wall divider that stood about 7 feet high. Both desks were owned by a separate chuunin (or jonin, Ino couldn't tell) that helped to ease the returning students through the registration process. And low and behold, through all of the order, a certain blond-haired, blue-eyed young boy was standing atop one of the registration desks... just as well, all of the papers previously neatly assembled on the desktop were scattered. The chuunin sitting behind the desk, a young, svelte man with brown hair, mousy facial features, and a leaf headband that he wore dangerously low, covering his eyebrows, sat with a easily readable disgruntled expression.

"...Naruto," The man suddenly spoke up after a few moments of silence from the boy's outburst. He apparently knew Naruto quite well, from the look in his eyes... and the fact that he was still calm. "You know you have to wait until Lord Hokage-sama arrives for him to register you for this year of school. Why don't you just wait outside, and let everyone else get through with their registration...?" He asked with as quiet a voice as possible, apparently deciding that getting just as loud as Naruto would do no good.

"Screw that! Just let me do it myself, I know how!" Apparently, however, this did not settle down the rambunctious Naruto, who stomped his foot down in protest on the desk, which wobbled in response. "I got hear first, before everybody else! It's not fair that just because they got somebody to-- What, you got something to say!?" Mid-sentence, the blond boy whipped his head around and laid piercing eyes onto the other chuunin who was sitting behind his respective desk. Ino hadn't seen why or where this sudden outburst came from; she hadn't been looking at the man in question, so she didn't see anything. Inoichi, however, saw the whole act in progress, and had quietly continued to watch as Naruto made a nice little mess of the system in place.

"...W-what? No one's paying you any attention, brat, so cut the though guy act. Get out of the way, or we'll get security." The chuunin spoke, obviously less patient with the boy than his co-worker. He and Naruto had started a sudden, flat-out glare match that caused the front of the room to quiet just a little. Naruto had 'I'm 2 seconds away from beating you down' written all over his face, and just as well, the chuunin had 'Try me' written all over his. And for the oddest reason, as she stood just as silent behind her father, her heartbeat slowly beginning to rise, Ino found herself worried... yes, worried that the resulting ending to this stare-off would not be pleasant. She waited, and waited, and watched for the edge, looking for someone to do something here... But, when someone did, it was the most unexpected thing she'd thought could happen.

"...Excuse me, Seiza..." Amaya, who'd been quiet the whole time until now, suddenly spoke up. Seiza, who'd been nearly too embroiled in his glare-fest with Naruto, blinked suddenly and looked forward again to give Amaya his attention. "If it's okay with you, and the rest of us here... would it be okay if Inoichi and I registered the boy while we're here?" Her question turned the heads of many, including her own daughter. Ino had looked to her mother as though she'd just praised the devil just now. Sure it was a solution and all but... since Naruto had no parents, they'd be registering him under their name! That meant that whatever trouble he'd get into, it'd be brought straight up with her parents, and that any conferences, meetings, or anything of that sort would fall on their shoulders... it was practically putting him in their family! Ino quickly looked to her father for some sort of help here, some sort of counter or response, something, anything!

"...Actually, I think that's a great idea. I'm surprised I didn't think of it, ha ha!" Inoichi proclaimed to his wife, who took it as his approval and smiled to him.

Ino wanted to throw up.

"Err... well, normally, the boy is supposed to wait for Lord Hokage-sama's arrival to be registered into the new year of school..."

Wait, was that hope? Maybe it wasn't time to give up yet!

"But... if you want that burden on your shoulders, I suppose it's fine as long as you go and report this afterwards."

No, never mind. Ino sighed and drooped her head at this; Naruto, who'd been just as quiet as he was clueless the entire time, just sat there, buzzed. The mousy chuunin, who was sadly still staring at Naruto's overincredulous orange bottoms, gave a small 'ahem' to get the boy's attention. Funnily, Naruto snapped to it.

"Umm... Naruto, these people here just sorta decided to sign you up for this year of school..." He started, which immediately caught the still confused boy's attention, "...So, if it's okay with you... could you please step down off of my desk now...?" Slowly, within the blond boy's mind he put 2 and 2 together. "...Wait, so you mean--?"

The chuunin nodded.

"Then, they'll--"

The chuunin nodded again.

"So I don't have to--"

"Naruto..." He warned. The response he got was different this time. No more blabbering, he jumped back off of the desk and gave a loud "Woo Hoo!" of victory (to what, no one knew), startling several. He turned around and walked over to the family of three, and without warning grasped Inoichi's larger hand in his own two, and shook it. "You guys are the best! You're uh... Ino's parents, right?" Naruto asked, as though it weren't the most obvious thing in the world. "Thanks a bunch!" Inoichi patted the younger boy on the head, chuckling under his breath.

"It's no problem at all, really. We'll handle everything here... so, why don't you go on ahead and wait outside. When we're done in here, we'll come and tell you, okay?" Inoichi told the boy, who nodded halfway through the explanation just to save time. Oddly, the Yamanaka family was one of the few sets of people in Konoha that Naruto, bold as he was, felt he could trust. Why? One day, a little while back, he'd run into them at the Ichiraku ramen bar while he was hanging out with his favorite teacher, Iruka Umino. They sat and talked, and from what the blond could tell about Amaya and Inoichi (and he had a knack for being right about these things) they were seemingly good people. After all, anyone who knew good ramen was a good person in Naruto's mind.

"Actually," Amaya, who'd been listening and nodding to her husband's words, spoke up again, "Weren't Shikamaru and Choji waiting outside for you, Ino? Why don't you go on outside with Naruto and catch up with them? I'm sure they're still sitting out there." Ino blinked, a seriously disturbed expression on her face. "Wh-what? Mom, no! Why?" She immediately retorted strongly, looking from her, to Naruto... and back to her. What she asked was completely out of the question. There was no way she could be seen walking around with... _him!_ She'd rather be grounded for life!

"Now Ino, that's no way to make friends. Go on, go and lead Naruto on out of here and play with your other friends." She said more curtly than she'd spoken before, but the dulled... well, 'kindness' in her sheer presence lingered. Naruto, who looked unaffected by either of there words, simply looked to Inoichi with a confused face. Inoichi, who'd only looked down at the boy just then, chuckled. If words could be transferred without speaking, he was clearly stating "Don't worry, they're always like this."

Stomping her foot in frustration... as well as embarrassment at the fact that they'd suddenly gained a few onlookers, Ino defended her stand. "Mom, there's no way I'm going to play with him at all!" She said plain and simple, putting her hands to her hips, and delivering as much attitude as she could at her age. There, she'd said it. She wasn't going to go and play with Naruto, and that was that. There was nothing, nothing in Ino's mind that her mother could do to change her own stand!

* * *

"You know, your mom's pretty scary! How do you deal with that?" Ino sighed, her head hanging in pure and utter defeat. She walked slowly, moping, frowning. She did it. Somehow, through Ino's triad, her mother had sentenced her to go and take Naruto with her as she went to go and play with Shikamaru and Choji... Darn her. Ino rarely had someone force her to do anything; contrary to what most thought, she was 'very' rational when she wanted to be. She made her own decisions, and that's how she liked it. But when people like her mother and father stepped in between those decisions, she had no control over what the outcome was. So here she was, walking an already very irritating Naruto right in front of her, who'd been blathering on about absolutely nothing for the past 3 minutes... like she was supposed to care that the three minutes it took for ramen to be made was annoying.

"You get used to it. It's almost the same as dealing with you." The girl mumbled blatantly, and pushed passed Naruto as they reached the outside of the school. Oddly enough... Choji and Shikamaru weren't sitting in the same place as they were before, underneath the canopy opposite the school. Interesting... but before the girl could speak her thoughts, Naruto beat her to the punch.

"I thought you said they were out here! Where'd they go, anyway?" Naruto asked the blond girl, who in response shook her head. "How am I supposed to know, Naruto...? They were sitting over there--" Suddenly, something occurred to the girl. They weren't there. What an opportunity... if they'd been sitting there, she would have actually _had _to continue talking with Naruto.

"Well, it looks like they went home. Oh well. Why don't you head on back to the orphanage or where ever it is you stay?" Ino stated with a clear and level tone. A half-though through plan. With Choji and Shikamaru missing, she could get Naruto to go away with an excuse. Perfect. "I'll just go tell mom that Choji and Shika left, k? Well, see ya." She said almost in one, quick breath, already turning around and in the process of walking away from the boy, before he spoke up.

"Yeah... hey, why don't we just hang out? We don't need Choji or Shikamaru. We can have fun without them!" He said with a smirk. Ino rolled her eyes, apparently not on the same level with Naruto at the moment. Her back already to him, Ino shook her head and looked over her shoulder with the best fake smile she could muster. "Maybe later, when mom and dad aren't busy, okay? I'll catch up with you later." She said as sweetly as she could muster. Judging from the look on Naruto's face, he bought it, hook, line, and sinker.

"Oh... well, okay! You know where to find me if ya change your mind!" He said brightly, bringing up his great big smile, before turning away and walking off towards where Ichiraku's ramen stand was. Ino waited until he was fully and completely out of sight before letting out a huge sigh of relief. Easy. That boy was just too easy. Too simple.

"That wasn't nice, Ino." The girl froze on the spot, her breath hitched in her throat. That voice was oh-too-familiar... older, wiser... and simply hearing it at the moment was enough to scare Ino into a 'red handed' jolt. She looked around, searching for the voice's owner, and gulped hard when she did find it. "H-h-hokage-sama!" Yes, standing not to far away from where the girl was, at the same corner which the canopy where Choji and Shikamaru were sitting, was none other than the old man himself, all dressed and adorned in his ceremonial Konohagakure robes. Amazing, Ino once pondered, how the bottoms of the robes always dragged on the floor, yet never seemed dirty.

Never before did Ino feel so guilty in her life.

"On one hand, I must admit that you can put up quite a mask, especially when trying to ease away from something you really don't feel like doing." A smile tugged on the lips of the older man as he took a moment to take the tobacco pipe out of his mouth, and put out the small, invisible ember that kept it alight in the wide in of it. Had to be environmental around the kids, anyway. "On the other, I do think that you really waste that talent when you use it on a friend." He said finally, putting the pipe away after tinkering with it a little.

"But... hokage-sama, Naruto's like... he's not really my 'friend'..." Ino started, trying to configure some sort of an explanation. There was no point in lying to the hokage; after all... he was the HOKAGE. His name itself begged respect. Plus there was that one story of him being able to see through anything... amazing story, really. "I really just don't like being around him... he's rude, and annoying, and he just acts like he doesn't have any manners!" The girl stated out of distress. Sarutobi, who'd been sitting quite comfortably under the canopy (when he got there from the corner, Ino wasn't sure), nodded, with a small smile still playing on his lips.

"Hahaha... noted, with some minor exceptions." He said somewhat cheerfully. Of course, his response confused Ino, who tilted her head to the side as though the new angle would help her somehow get a better idea of what he meant, so Sarutobi gestured for her to come and join him under the shade of the canopy. When she did so, he took in a nice breath of air, before continuing. "Minor exceptions, little Ino, that come from the fact that some of Naruto's downsides aren't fully his fault." He finished, albeit softly. Ino still obviously had no idea what the hokage was getting at, and seeing this, Sarutobi smiled.

"Well, Ino, let's think back... you said that, if recall correctly, he's 'rude, annoying, and acts as though he has no manners.' I think... and it's only my personal opinion, but I think that his rudeness comes from the fact that Naruto does, after all, have to fend for himself on several occasions. I'm sure that you've noticed." Some form of realization clicked in the young girl's mind. Fending for himself... wasn't that what he was doing earlier, in trying to register himself? As though he understood her lack of argument as an answer, the older man continued.

"Well then, you might take the argument further. You could go on to say that even though he might have to fend for himself on some occasions, shouldn't he still act civilized in public? Rather than cause disruptions, shouldn't he just deal with in a more discrete way?"

"Y-yeah! Exactly, hokage-sama, that's what I mean!" Ino responded, completely overcome by the hype of this conversation. So someone else DID share her thoughts, the hokage no less! That definitely meant Naruto was in the wrong!

"Of course, then you'd have to figure that... Naruto doesn't have anyone to look up to 24/7 that can teach him right from wrong." His words, that small counter-argument literally stunned Ino, like a slap to the face. That was true. Naruto was an orphan, he didn't have parents... "But... Hokage-sama, Naruto stays in an orphanage, doesn't he? Wouldn't the head of the orphanage be like his... parents or something?" She asked, still trying to find some way to 'win' this argument... seeing as all of her hype was just shattered.

"Very optimistic, little Ino. Yes, under normal circumstances, that would be the case..." Sarutobi broke off here. How far was he taking this conversation? There were laws in place, laws that he himself had set up, that prevented even him from going too far. But... he looked down at the seven year old girl, her eyes staring back up at him with actual curiosity, an actual need to understand... A small glimmer of concern.

How far was he going to go for a small glimmer of hope?

"...However... I'm sure that you've noticed that... Naruto isn't exactly 'treated like family' by anyone... haven't you?" Ino frowned. That was true. She could always tell... on any occasion that Naruto happened to be around, she could tell by the looks on any civilian's face, no matter the person... only a select few, like her mother and the hokage, actually ever smiled at him. She thought that it just stemmed from his being annoying... it did, didn't it? Sarutobi, no longer waiting for a response, answered the silent question. "Have you ever heard of the old riddle, 'Which came first, the chicken or the egg?' Strange riddle indeed. Most would say that the chicken must have come first... but then where exactly did the chicken come from? Was it always there, or did it, perhaps... evolve from something that was previously there?"

Ino was a bright girl. Very bright, in fact... she was one of the highest ranking female students in the academy. Soon to be a kunoichi, her intellect was one of the things she trusted most, even more than her strength. Sarutobi knew this, for the most part, and realized that, as the girl's brows furrowed down for a moment before she nearly jumped up and looked at him with realization... perhaps he'd said enough. Quiet, they both sat for a moment, before the hokage, tilting his hat as the sun started to move into the canopy, spoke again.

"I'm curious, little Ino. Tell me... if you thought that one thing could change how 'rude, annoying and manner-less' Naruto was, what would it be?"

Such a question. Almost like a game, and yet, Ino didn't respond. Something was growing within her, something strange, something of an emotion that she couldn't understand, so much like realization... but it felt so wrong. One thing was for certain... she'd just lost the argument. "...I think..." But she couldn't answer. That emotion inside her was raging now; crashing like waves inside her, making her so afraid to speak, so afraid that it would overflow, somehow. But the answer was there. Something she couldn't see, couldn't have realized before today. So odd, how a riddle could change a person's point of view.

"...If he only had--"

"Ino? Oh, there you are-- Ah, lord Hokage-sama! Such a nice surprise to see you here!" Her train of thought broken, Ino looked up to find that exiting the ninja academy and approaching them were her mother and father... the former who'd just spoken. Amaya had now stepped off to the side to talk with the hokage now, and Inoichi approached his daughter, who in turn hopped up off of the bench of the canopy to meet him halfway.

"Ha... sorry it took us so long, Ino. I didn't figure signing up two children would take so long." He said with a chuckle, a sheepish look about his face. Ino shook her head and smiled. "It's ok, dad, I was just talking with the hokage-sama. Shika and Choji went home, so... yeah." She said, as if it were some feat of amazement. Oddly enough, to some, it was. "Well aren't you just special since you can talk with the hokage." He said in a mockingly sad tone. Then, something occurred to him. "Hmm? I thought Naruto was out here with you. Where is he?"

Something like a guilt saturated knife stabbed the poor girl in the stomach. "Oh, I think he went back to the orphanage..." She felt like she was lying. Technically it wasn't a lie if she left out what happened... right? As long as he didn't ask, it wasn't a lie... Inoichi tilted in confusion, not only of her answer, but the sudden look of disdain on her face. "Hmm... I see. Oh well, I suppose that as long as he's registered, that's a good thing, right Ino?"

But Ino didn't respond. Mentally, she was trying fruitlessly to clear her mind. Realization was killing her.

"...Well, it has truly been a pleasure to get this chance to talk with you, lord hokage-sama. Perhaps, if you're not too busy, you could join our family for lunch?" Ino heard her mother say, looking back at the two. What had they been speaking of, anyway? Had he told her of the conversation they'd just had? "Ah, I do wish I could, however you know this job keeps me on my toes." He said, politely declining. "Well then, I'll be off. Oh, and Ino," With a blink, the girl looked to him, "You would do well to keep what we just talked about in mind, ok?" He made a little hand gesture of pointing to his head beneath his head with a smile, before turning and walking onwards into the school. Ino wanted to call after him, to confirm this strange new thought, this new point of view with him, but she didn't.

"So then, Ino, what did you and the hokage talk about?" Her mother asked as they proceeded home. Ino, who only half heard her, gave the best answer she could.

"Oh... that riddle with the chicken and the egg..."

* * *

Ino did not sleep well that night. She laid in bed restlessly for a very long time, having gone straight to her room after dinner. She thought that an early night's sleep was exactly what she'd needed... but apparently it wasn't. After about an hour of tossing over in her bed countless times, the young blond got up, and went to go have a seat at her window seal, figuring that perhaps the sight of a starlit sky would clear her mind of whatever it was that was troubling her so badly.

The truth was that the only thing keeping her up tonight was that conversation she'd had with the hokage. The words that were spoken still rung in her head as clear as daylight, and that sickening feeling of self-realization wouldn't go away. It was annoying to think that perhaps, just perhaps, she wasn't sure of something. But she wasn't. She wasn't sure of anything at all now, and as decisive a person as Ino was, that was disturbing.

All of this centered around Naruto. That boy that just about everyone seemed to dislike, the kid that had no friends, no family, and acted like he didn't have a care in the world. Only a few hours ago, he would have been the last thing that she'd ever think of. He had no affiliation to her whatsoever, and as such, Ino felt that from the distance that she'd always watched Naruto from, she could see that there was absolutely nothing else to him but the prankster, the fool, the class clown... the nobody.

So odd, how a riddle could change a person's point of view.

Ino had always figured that there was nothing else to Naruto. But maybe that was only because she didn't look hard enough. Maybe that was why everyone hated him so badly, because they didn't look past the childishness of his outside, or his pranks, or whatever he could come up with to keep konoha so chaotic. Maybe... it was really just like the hokage had said. Maybe it was all... just part of a mask. Just part of a facade that Naruto kept up constantly for some reason... maybe the truth was, while everyone was convinced that they knew Naruto plain and simply, no one really did...

Stressed, the girl ran a hand through her long locks and shook her head, moving from her window seal and to the mirror that sat atop her dresser now. Why should she care though!? Why did it bother her so much that Naruto had the _possibility_ of having more to him than meets the eye? She was a seven year old! She shouldn't have to care about other people yet, right? Trying to see through masques, to understand how someone else felt-- Ino was young! She shouldn't have been worried about it in the first place! She didn't want to care if Naruto was different; she didn't want to care about him at all!

_'But that isn't true, is it? I am concerned about him, I'm worried about the fact that there may just be more to Naruto than meets the eye.'_ Ino couldn't stand it. She felt as though she was contradicting herself; stopping herself from thinking the way she wanted to think, feeling the way she wanted to feel. She was struggling against herself suddenly; she was fighting herself internally, fighting a part of herself that she wasn't sure she wanted to side with; The collision of two forces within her, neither registering as a force of 'good' to the young girl, was almost too much for her to handle.

_Why should I care about anyone other than myself!?_

Ino's breathing became restricted; the harder she tried to inhale, the less she was able to. She needed air, space... the top of her dresser was so clustered with items that it hurt her eyes to look at it all suddenly. She flung her arm roughly across the dresser top, knocking just about everything that was on it to the floor with several thumps. She felt her legs giving out to the stress of the war within herself, but she struggled to keep herself standing, using the support of the dresser. She still couldn't breathe... she felt sicker than before.

_I don't care about Naruto; Why should I!? He's nobody to me!_

Waves of mental pain racked Ino's body. She looked into the mirror, looking at it as though she were looking for some answer, something, anything to help her escape this stress that suddenly filled and terrified her so. She found nothing but the reflection of herself, staring desperately back at her, gasping for breath like a poor child with asthma. There was nothing else there.

_I don't care about anyone._

"Th... That's not true..." The girl whispered to herself between gasps. Her breathing became worse. The struggle inside of herself worsened.

_I only care about myself; no one else matters to me._

"No..." Ino whimpered; she felt tears welling up in her eyes at this point. She couldn't take it; this pain, this stress, this struggle inside herself. She looked to the mirror once more, looking for the reflection again, looking for herself in the glass. She found a reflection, but it was not of her own. It was a blond, thin young 7 year old girl looking back at Ino with glaring eyes, cold eyes that seemed to pierce into Ino's soul.

"Just who do you think you are, anyway? Why do you expect so much out of yourself? You're seven years old. You're a small, weak, frail little girl who can't do anything for herself. You're pathetic." The image in the mirror spoke. Ino's eyes dilated almost inhumanely; she had to have been hallucinating. Her reflection... what was this?

"Look at yourself. This is all there is to you, Ino. You're simple-minded, annoying to everyone else around you, selfish... you don't even care about your friends, do you?" The image spoke again, putting a single hand on her hip in a very Ino-like fashion.

"That's not true..."

"You never were exactly the caring type though, were you? I mean, really... the way that you treat Shikamaru, Naruto... Oh, no, everyone treats Naruto that way, so I guess that pardons you form it, right? I mean, if everyone else hates him, why shouldn't you?" The reflection shrugged in a very nonchalant manner, still looking down on a somewhat cowering Ino with pitying eyes.

"N-No, that's not-- I, I don't treat..." Ino found herself absolutely confounded. She felt like an idiot for the first time in her life; There wasn't even a proper excuse for what the reflection of herself had just stated. She couldn't lie to this being, she couldn't understand why, nor did she care why. The war within her still raged, and her thinking was not clear at all. But there was one thing she understood, and that was this reflection's words; everything it said... was true. Every little snipe it had taken at Ino, she could not defend herself against... because it was her own thoughts, turned against her.

"You don't treat...? You don't treat Shikamaru like he doesn't have business of his own? You don't abuse the fact that you can blame, assault, or insult him to make yourself feel superior whenever he's around? Or... were you going to refer to Naruto...? Were you about to tell me that you don't treat him like... well, less than garbage?"

"No, th- that's isn't true... Naruto's... he's..." Once more, Ino was left wordless. And it hurt more this time.

"He's what? A friend? You know, if you're going to lie, at least do it about something less obvious. Quite frankly, Ino, I do think that if you had to choose between Naruto's life and a date with someone like choji--"

"Shut up! That's not true!" Ino hadn't the slightest clue where this outburst had come from, but it brought the pain of her struggle right back; Her breathing became hitched again, and she slowly attempted to step away from the mirror. She needed air, space... she needed to escape this horrifying truth that her reflection told her...

"Oh, really? Ino, you don't care about him. You never cared about his life, if he was ever in pain, you could care less if--"

"Shut up!!" She screamed. Tears leaked from her eyes. It was true. It was all true.

"You're pathetic... you really are, you know that? You're fighting the fact that you don't care... why? To make yourself feel better? That's it, isn't it? All this time, you were only trying to make yourself fell better--"

It was at this point that Ino, who'd lost control of herself, grabbed the nearest object and threw it at the mirror. She didn't care what it was, what would happen to the mirror or the object... she just needed the ability to drown out that voice, to free herself of that struggle inside, and let it all go.

"SHUT UP!! I do care! I care! I want to care! I want to care!!" She screamed to no one in particular, tears of painful release streaming down her face. Nothing mattered anymore, nothing seemed real to Ino at this moment. She wasn't even sure she was still in her room. For all she cared, she could have been falling from the hokage monument. This Epiphany, this sudden realization, it shook her, her entire being. She felt like a burden had just been lifted from her shoulders, like the world had just become brighter, more vivid... she felt like she'd just awakened from a nightmare.

Footsteps thundered through the stairway to her room. Within seconds, the girl's door was flung open, and at it stood both her mother and father, nearly toppling over one another to get to Ino, who now lay sprawled on the floor, crying lifelessly. Her mother was quickest, having been in front of Inoichi the entire time. She rushed to her daughter's side, worry apparent on her face as she scooped her up into her own arms, picking her head up from the carpeted floor. She looked to find injury of any kind, any at all, but the only thing out of order that she could see was Ino's face, tears leaking from her eyes which now looked up at Amaya.

"Ino, what's wrong? Are you okay? What happened, your things are all over the floor--" Ino suddenly jolted to life, as if remembering her predicament. She stopped her mother mid-sentence, something she'd never done before in her life, and and spoke wildly, rapidly, with such fear in her voice as though she might lose it if she stopped.

"I couldn't- I was- I talked with the Hokage, and he told me about Naruto and I told him I thought he was annoying and he told me the riddle about the chicken and the egg and I couldn't understand it because I had this feeling inside me like all my life I've been doing something wrong but I didn't say anything and he asked me if I could change one thing about Naruto what would it be, but I didn't know how to answer it, so I tried to sleep on it but I couldn't sleep and I kept thinking about it and this voice in my head said I- I..." Unable to continue any further, Ino felt her body once more rack with stress, but it gave way as her mother hushed her and pulled her in as close as she could, whispering words of encouragement into her daughter's ear. Inoichi, all the while, had actually heard every word of what Ino had just said, and mulled it over in the meantime. All the while Ino kept muttering things to herself like "I'm not a bad person", and "I do care". It took nearly ten minutes, but without any change at all in the setting, Ino had fallen asleep in her mother's arms. Amaya tucked the poor girl in gently, sighing at the sight of her tired, yet peaceful face, before she and Inoichi both left the room.

"I never would have thought... I mean, she's only seven, but..." Amaya, much like her daughter, was wordless. She showed obvious bedazzlement on her face, and even missed a step on the stairs, which her husband, bemused as he was, reacted to quick enough.

"Well, Ino's definitely... hmm..." Inoichi was at a loss of words himself, but there was a difference. He was, by his expression, oddly pleased. It earned him a glare from Amaya.

"You could at least treat the situation a little more seriously... Your daughter did just have an anxiety attack after all. That WE, her own parents, staged."

"Why so serious, dear?" Obviously, whatever intimidation tactic Amaya was playing at wasn't working. "Ino has a big heart. Bigger than she knows, even. I think that this was... perhaps, the hokage's most brilliant idea ever. Helping Ino to understand how to be a better friend... we may have just changed her future for the better. Margarita?" He asked as they reached the bottom of the stairs, "You don't look like you'll be able to sleep tonight."

Amaya sighed. "I just don't like how this happened... you heard Ino in there... I wish I didn't have to put her through that." Shaking her head, the auburn haired woman turned to look into the kitchen, where her husband had already started off to. Things were being set into motion now... things involving her own daughter, things that would most likely be out of her own hands, as well as her husbands... So stressful.

"...Actually, that Margarita sounds pretty good right now..."

* * *

I need reviews to refuel my fanfic-typing power... I CRAVE them. Gimme the reviews!

--

Next chapter:

"...Shikamaru...?" Ino slowly spoke up once, looking away at the sky. Said young boy stopped, turned back around and looked at Ino with a curious face.

"...I'm Sorry."

--

"Lord Hokage-sama... we've made our decision." Amaya said quietly, Ino at her left side, and Inoichi at her right. The older man actually took a moment to take off his hat, apparently not wanting to miss a moment of what was going to be said next.

"And that decision is...?"

--

"It's been far too long since I've last visited... it looks much too quiet here." The hooded man spoke to no one in particular as he stepped over the body of the still sleeping Eastern gate guards. His eyes, like pools of darkness, took in the great sight of the wall surrounding Konohagakure, before a smile suddenly played on his face. With that, he pulled forth from his pocket a small vial of dark red... glowing liquid, and held it up to his face, so that it may illuminate the features of his face... his dark skin, his white eye brows, and that eerie... eerie smile.

"It's time to shake things up again... Heheheheheh... Hahahahahahah!!"

--

TBC.

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